Congratulations
to you and your group for considering a World Religions program. Most people
find learning about other faiths deepens their own. How can we truly love
our neighbors if we do not know them? Kansas City is composed of
people from many faith traditions, and the Kansas City Interfaith Council
has prepared a Speakers Bureau which can help you plan your program and
contact representatives from many of the varied reli-gions practiced in
the metro area. For a copy of the list of speakers, email staff@cres.org,
call 913.649.5114 (24-hour voicemail), or send a stamped, self-addressed
envelope to Interfaith Council c/o CRES, Box 45414, Kansas City, MO 64171. Most of the speakers are happy to
offer their services without charge. Nevertheless, many groups like to
provide a speaker with an honorarium or make a contribution to the community
of faith the speaker represents. CRES does not normally make
arrangements; you should contact prospective speakers directly. If
you wish a consulation before planning your series, you may contact CRES
at staff@cres.org or call 913.649.5114 (24-hour voicemail) .

2. Basic Hints and Examples

A. In your publicity, emphasize that your group
brings a respectful attitude to the faiths you will encounter. As you introduce
the program, again make clear that the purpose of the event is information
and understanding. It is not for argument or conversion — either for the
speaker to convert your group or for anyone in your group to convert the
speaker. We celebrate kinship, not necessarily a common creed. Learning
about each other can help us mature within our own traditions.*

B. Your speakers should
-- be comfortable in speaking publicly and in English
-- know their own faiths broadly, beyond their particu lar denominations,
divisions or schools
-- understand the history, scripture, beliefs, practices, organizations,
artistic expressions and cultural impacts of their faiths
-- understand your faith well enough to make comparisons with
theirs
-- honor your own faith.

C. If you have friends, family members, co-workers,
or acquaintances of other faiths you would like to hear about and who are
qualified, invite them to be part of your program. Personal relationships
build bridges between faiths. But if you need help in obtaining speakers,
consider the Kansas City Interfaith Council Speakers Bureau.

D. If you wish an overview, you may want to use teachers
of comparative religion or individuals listed below. Overview topics are
identified in a following section.

E. Consider at least one speaker from each of three
families of faith.
-- The family emphasizing nature includes American
Indian and Wiccan traditions.
-- The family emphasizing inner revelation includes
Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Sufism.
-- The family emphasizing history and community
includes Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Unitarian
Universalism and Baha’i.

F. While most groups want a program in which each
religion is presented with time for questions, others have asked their
speakers to address a specific issue around which a series or panel has
been organized, such as healing or the role of the family.
* Make sure the speaker is comfortable with the format
you propose. One speaker may prefer to respond to questions as they arise;
another may want to complete the presentation before taking questions.
* If you ask the speaker to respond to specific
advance questions, you may want to be sure that they actually apply to
the faith represented. For example, asking an American Indian to discuss
scripture is not an appropriate request since the tradition has historically
been oral.

G. Here are four different models of series:
(1) Ongoing open. Since
1993, an interfaith group at the University of Kansas Medical Center meets
each Wednesday. Once a month, they engage a guest speaker. Even those not
connected with the hospital are welcome for the noon brown bag lunch and
discussion.
(2) Ongoing closed. Beginning
in 1987 and for about ten years, the Christian Jewish Muslim Dialogue Group
met monthly to discuss issues of mutual interest. To deepen the exchange
about sometimes very controversial issues, membership was closed although
guests were often invited.
(3) Site visits. “Houses
of the Holy” was a series conducted by Community Christian Church. A group
visited Temple B’nai Jehudah, Inshirah Mosque and the Hindu Temple to learn
about non-Christian faiths “on site.”
(4) Theme series. The Young
Leaders Committee of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau developed “Interfaith
Viewpoints on Life,” a series focusing on birth, rites of adulthood, marriage,
death and such. Speakers represented Jewish, Wiccan, Hindu, Protestant,
Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist and American Indian faiths.
Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church focused its “Inside
Out: Experiencing Spirituality” series with a professor familiar with several
traditions including Buddhism, Sufism and Christian Orthodoxy. The series
emphasized non-verbal practices including dancing and icons.
(5) Single programs on general
or special topics.

3. Topics for an Overview

Some groups also like to begin the series with an
“overview” or introduction, and/or conclude with a summation. Depending
on the time allotted, a speaker can:
-- Outline three basic attitudes that can be brought
to the study of different faiths

-- Identify the major religions within the three
great families of faith (the Primal, the Asian, the Monotheistic) and sketch
their presence in Kansas City

-- Chart the basic characteristics of the three families
of faith and illustrate their basic insights with characteristic stories
and objects of art

-- Show how three great areas of crisis today (environmental,
personal, and social) require our acquaintance with these great traditions
of wisdom

-- Explain how the basic insights of the families of faith
can become distorted

-- Present the five most common guesses scholars make about
what the future of religions is likely to be

-- Provide appropriate hand-outs and identify additional
resources

-- Answer general questions and questions about specific
religions (their origins and leaders, their history, their beliefs and
practices, their texts, their organization, distribution, and membership,
etc.)

-- Place the interest in world religions in the context
of the unprecedented religious confusion in America to day, deepened by
(1) privatism, the fragmentation of personal religious experience from
society, and (2) secularism, society without a unifying vision of
itself

OTHER TOPIC SUGGESTIONS

1. What does your faith group say about the best attitude to bring to
other religions? What is your own story about how you came to recognize
other faiths?

2. What is the meaning of
(a) water,
(b) fire,
(c) membership,
(d) the sacred,
(e) what do you most want folks to know about your own tradition and
how it is like and different from others?
(f) what does "revelation" and/or "scripture" mean and how does it
govern those of your faith?
(g) what spiritual resources and practical responses does your faith
offer to the three great crises of our time -- the environment, the lack
of a sense of fulfilled personhood, the conflict, oppression, crime, and
exploitation, poverty/wealth gap which violate our sense of a just and
peaceful society?
Please give anecdotes or relate examples from your own life experience
to illustrate your points.

3. Some scholars identify four dimensions to religion:
Creed (belief),
Code (moral requirements),
Cultus (ritual performances), and
Community (social ties and organization, religious and otherwise).
Different religions emphasize different dimensions. For example, correct
belief is very important for Christian Fundamentalists, while social coherence
is more important for many Jews (you can be an atheist and a Jew so long
as your mother was Jewish). What dimensions are most important in your
faith?
Please give an anecdote or relate an example from your own life experience
to illustrate the priority your faith gives to one of these dimensions..

4. Overview speakers

The Reverend Vern Barnet, DMn, CRES minister in residence or another
member of the CRES staff will be happy to assist you, and work with the
Speakers Bureau.
Dr Barnet’s interfaith work with CRES began in 1982.
Combining worldwide interests and a local familiarity with religion, he
organized the Kansas City Interfaith Council in 1989. For its first four
years, he coordinated the Christian-Jewish-Muslim Dialogue Group here.
He has spoken at many international interfaith meetings,
and teaches world religions at the graduate and undergraduate level. His
talks are often illustrated with slides and stories from travels in Europe,
Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America.
Garma C C Chang was his first world religions teacher.
At the University of Chicago he studied with Mircea Eliade. He also trained
with Joseph Campbell. Like many others, he is inspired by Huston Smith,
whom he first met 30 years ago. {913.649.5114, vern@cres.org}
Ed Chasteen, PhD, CRES Amity Shaman, wrote How to Like People Who Are
Not Like You and can provide insights into multicultural questions. Formerly
head of Ethnic Studies at William Jewell College and originator of the
Human Family Reunion dinners, Ed now hold office at Central Baptist Theological
Seminary and runs HateBusters.
While his specialty is appreciating diversity
and claims to be no authority on world religions, he magnificently addresses
attitudes we can bring to those of other faiths. {913.371.5313, hatebuster@aol.com}

Neal McGregor received a master’s degree in religion from Park College,
teaches religion courses for Graceland College, and is now completing his
PhD degree at Walden University. His association with Dr Barnet began first
as a graduate student and has continued with several projects. {816.224.9472,
scotsman@toto.net}

The Rev David E Nelson, DMin, formerly senior pastor at Saint James
Lutheran Church, was appointed CRES associate minister in 1995.
David served on the Kansas City Interfaith
Council as its Protestant member before becoming its chair. For two years
he was the coordinator of the Christian Jewish Muslim Dialogue Group.
David received his master’s degree in divinity
and his doctorate degree in ministry from the Lutheran School of Theology
at the University of Chicago. He served as an adjunct faculty member of
that school, conveying a Doctor of Ministry program in both Kansas and
Missouri. He is a graduate of the two-year program in spiritual direction
with the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Direction in Washington, D.C. {816.453.3835,
humanagenda@juno.com}

5. KC Interfaith Council [this material is dated
to 2005]

The mission of the Council was:

1. to develop deeper understanding among
members of the Council of each other’s faiths and traditions, and
to foster appropriate bilateral and multilateral interreligious conversations
2. to model religious values (especially mutual
respect and cooperation) in a society which often seems non-religious and
intolerant
3. to provide resources, networking, and programs
to increase appreciation for religious diversity, and
4. to work with media and with educational and religious
leaders and groups in promoting accurate and fair portrayal of the faiths.
Fundraising and political or social action activities
are not normally the focus of the Council, though the Council may refer
suggestions about such matters to other, more appropriate organizations.
Formed on May 11, 1989, the Council currently
meets quarterly and is planning a major Interfaith Conference. The Council’s
activities are reported in the CRES monthly newsletter, Many Paths.
The Sunday before Thanksgiving, at a different
hosting location each year, representatives of faith communities in the
Kansas City area speak and eat together at the Interfaith Ritual Meal,
a practice begun in 1984. It is open to the public and especially welcomes
children.

(5) The Saturday “Faith” section of The Kansas
City Star, which features a rotating panel of spiritual leaders from various
faiths in Kansas City, a “Spotlight” and stories on trends and issues

(6) The “Faiths and Beliefs” column by Vern Barnet,
in the Wednesday FYI section of The Kansas City Star

(7) Other organizations listed on the CRES website
on the Network page

7. For Children

Children can and should become acquainted with the concept of religious
diversity.

Many denominations and school systems have developed resources to assist
teachers.

In addition, the internet is full of material, some of it reliable,
that may help. Here are a few examples:
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/thismonth/mar02/index.shtmhttp://www.minnesotahumanities.org/Teachers/wldreligions.htmhttp://www.libraryvideo.com/sm/uwr.asp?bhjs=1&bhsw=1280&bhsh=1024&bhswi=1278&bhshi=860&bhflver=3&bhdir=0&bhje=0&bhcold=32&bhrl=3&bhqt=0&bhmp=0&bhab=-1&bhref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Ecom%2Fsearch%3Fhl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF%2D8%26oe%3DUTF%2D8%26q%3Dworld%2Breligions%2Bcurriculum%26btnG%3DGoogle%2BSearchhttp://www.uua.org/re/bibliography_keith.htmlhttp://www.uua.org/bookstore/product_info.php?products_id=782

An old book for children that still may be helpfu is Dorothy Dixon's
WORLD RELIGIONS IN THE CLASSROOM. Basic books useful for lay teachers are
Huston Smith's THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS (ISBN 0-06-250811-3) and SOURCEBOOK
OF THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS by Joel Beversluis (ISBN 1-57731-121-3.)

On-site curriculum consultation and training is $75/hour with a 4-hour
minimum.

Congratulations on recognizing the importance of children and young
people (as well as adults) in learning about world religions. Those who
undertake the study find that their own faith is deepened and enriched.

8. “CRES”

Founded as “The Center for
Religious Experience and Study,” CRES is a Kansas City area non-profit
interfaith institute founded in 1982. Its mission is to explore and celebrate
the sacred in nature, personal identity, and social covenant, including
all areas of culture, from art and business to science and sports. Its
services include consultation and teaching, programs, counseling, networking,
weddings, publications, and other ways of supporting individuals and organizations
with the resources of the world’s religious traditions and contemporary
liberation movements.

VISION: CRES envisions the greater Kansas City
area as a model community where interfaith relationships are honored as
a way of deepening one’s own tradition and spirituality, and where the
wisdom of the many religions successfully addresses the environmental,
personal, and social crises of our often distracted, fragmented,
secular world.

MISSION: To honor the sacred wherever it appears,
to support its appearance everywhere, and especially by promoting understanding
among peoples of all faiths in Kansas City and beyond.

GUIDING QUESTION: What is so important that life
depends upon it, so meaningful that I would die for it, and what may I
do to understand, honor, and share it? In other words: What is sacred?

THE ROLE OF CRES: Institutionally, CRES exists
in the spaces between other religious and secular organizations, building
a network among them by asking the Guiding Question. While the focus of
CRES is the Kansas City metropolitan area, it also relates to international
interfaith organizations and activities.

THE WORK OF CRES:Cooperating groups and individuals assist us
to -- promote interfaith networking, dialog,
and co-operation -- provide insight into the problems and
possibilities of our global community, -- enrich and refresh the life of the individual, -- deepen awareness of our participation
in the natural environment, and-- support and enhance goals and programs of
existing Kansas City area religious, educational, and other public and
private organizations.